Portable Lift

General Discussion
#1

Saw shizzrock post about this on AZ, now it really has me thinking. What do you all think about this portable lift?

http://www.quickjack.com/quickjack-portable-car-jack.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Qye_-Lyb58

I really don’t think I can justify a lift in my 2.5 car garage. It’s not a very high ceiling (mid 60’s ranch style) and there’s already a lot of crap lining the walls, so not much room. This thing also intrigues me because it could be brought to track days. Would be a lot easier than doing the extra wheel rotation thing. And I don’t own a lightweight portable aluminum floor jack, so I’d need to drop at least 200 at hobo freight for one.

The obvious downside is you aren’t lifting it high enough to do any real jobs, and are still not raising it much higher than jackstands, so you’ll still have to crawl around, but it should be marginally better than ramps/jackstands.

But I really hate lifting my car onto jack stands…seems to damage the underbody panels since there’s not enough room at the jack points to transition from floor jack to jackstand (I still don’t jack from under the control arms :-).

Not to mention this thing should have decent resale value down the road if priorities changed (lol not sure what that means), unlike a two post which would be a PITA.

I’d probably get the 12V version and hope it could run off my portable jumper. Then charge the jumper while not using it (I don’t drive around with it - bought it for previous POS car which had battery issues).

Someone talk me out of this ;D

#2

Looks pretty nice man, definitely worth it if you think about the time it takes you to jack up the car one wheel at a time.

I bought a cordless dewalt Impact a few months ago…best thing I’ve ever done.

You can use this on all of your vehicles too, for many reasons. Think about detailing the car with it lifted in the air a few feet.

Hell you may have just sold me on this by posting it.

#3

It’s right on the border of affordable, made easier to stomach by claiming “honey it will make things safe” and store away when not use. I guess the question is how easy is it to move around, and what are the potential problems. Would make simple stuff like wheel swaps way quicker. I like your idea about detailing. This thing reminds me of the bodyshop scissor lifts.

Infinkc makes the case for the low profile lift here http://www.audizine.com/forum/showthread.php/642129-2-post-4-post-lift-options-for-the-B8-5-S4?p=10584146&viewfull=1#post10584146

Which is 2k at costco here http://www.costco.com/Dannmar-MaxJax™-2-post-Portable-Auto-Lift.product.11731656.html details here http://www.costco.com/Dannmar-MaxJax™-2-post-Portable-Auto-Lift.product.11731656.html

The downside to his setup is it’s bulkier to store, doing the installation correct (not sure if my slanted garage floor will work?), costs more, doesn’t give you the true height you get with proper 2 post, and obviously not portable like the other one.

But the upside is you have legit room to do real work, something more sturdy that should have no failure modes if installed correct, will fit under the low profile roof.

Hmm decisions decisions :o

These questions would probably be a lot easier to answer if I had an actual project car…at this point it would just be for the DD cars.

#4

Hmm… Enticing…

I wonder how stable is it horizontally. I’m on my phone but it looks like an individual left and right piece?

#5

I’ve actually thought about that option too drob. I have to wait and see exactly what kind of room I have when my house is finished, but my ceilings are 12’. I’m just worried about clearance width wise. I’m also installing Liftmaster 8500 “jackshaft” style garage openers and I will probably convert one bay to a high lift garage door track.

I really like the OPs product because it’s open in the center, unlike a scissor lift so you could still do exhaust work.

I’ll be starting a garage thread come June for some ideas, I also plan to run an air line setup from a compressor in the basement.

#6

^ Had to look up “jackshaft”. NICE!

Wish I used this when I swapped out the garage door motor 5 years ago (assuming it was available).

#7

Yea makes sense. I think the main use case the OP lift opens up is working on the car away from your place, the portability is probably the big selling point. It sounds like you’re doing your garage right, so probably the ideal setup is to figure out a good 2 post solution that doesn’t become a nuisance. Plus, you’ll still have to creep under this one when you do anything under the middle of the car, and won’t be able to enter from the sides. It’s better than lying on the ground but still sucks if you have to use low profile tools or can’t have a second set of hands.

For me, I’m doing really simple bolt-on mods and wheel stuff. But like I said, would be a lot more fun with a project car unlike my 2 year old car that I probably shouldn’t be hacking up lol.

#8

I had a thread around here that I started when I had my Jackshafts installed…there are pictures as well. Unfortunately the lift and third car was put on hold after I bought the Airstream :slight_smile:

Edit…here it is.

http://audirevolution.net/forum/index.php?topic=1247

#9

I’ve always found this “lift” to be interesting, although overpriced.

http://www.ezcarlift.com/

Even though it seems their webpage is from 1997

#10

Nice, that’s an interesting thread. Yea, only so much cash to be distributed ;D

I just bought a house before winter, so now I’m starting to think about garage upgrades.